Success in a MOOC

A description of the five steps that will help you succeed in a MOOC.

Written and Narrated by Dave Cormier
Video by Neal Gillis

Researchers:
Dave Cormier
Alexander McAuley
George Siemens
Bonnie Stewart

Created through funding received by the University of Prince Edward Island through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's "Knowledge Synthesis Grants on the Digital Economy"

CC-BY 2010

So, you've just registered for your first MOOC

and you're wondering what to do next.

There are many ways you can succeed in a MOOC.

You might just want to follow along and get a sense of the topic.

You might be doing it for course credit.

You might be doing it to develop a new learning network

or to help finish that project you're working on.

This video is how I look at success in a Massive Open Online Course.

Let's say you've just registered for a MOOC about thingamajigits.

You've registered at the course site

and you've decided that you're going to commit your time,

but you're trying to figure out where to start.

This is five steps to succeed in a MOOC.

You need to orient,

declare,

network,

cluster

and focus.

First, you need to orient yourself.

Where are the materials,

the links you'll need to use every week,

the times of the live sessions?

Gather these together,

bookmark them!

You'll find that in some ways, a MOOC is a lot like

just being on the Web,

with one big exception:

a MOOC is paced.

There are readings and topics and they are separated into weeks.

While no one is going to be checking on you

to make sure you read everything,

the materials are there,

and while you don't need to cover everything,

the more you cover, the more you can participate.

The next thing you need to do is declare yourself.

You need to have a place for your thoughts and your reflections to live.

It might be a blog that you're writing,

it might be a discussion forum that's part of the course.

Your MOOC will have some way of gathering all the reflections on your course together.

It might be a tag, or some other method.

Let's say your course tag is 'Thingamajigits2011'.

Maybe you already have a blog,

or you can set one up online.

You can write a reaction to one of the readings,

add a course tag to it and post it to Twitter.

And then, probably,

nothing happens.

No one grades it,

no one comments.

You've declared yourself,

but no one seems to have noticed.

You need a network.

You need to follow some other people reflecting on the material

and make some connections.

Go back and take a look at the communications

you've been getting from the facilitators.

Do a search for the course tag.

Find some people's work,

read a few posts and comment on them.

Those connections and your comments are what the course is all about.

Better yet: go back to your spot

and write a thoughtful reply to someone's questions or concerns.

Tell them about it,

make connections.

There is a discussion going on

and the discussion is probably what you took this course for.

After a few weeks, it's probably time to cluster.

During the first couple of weeks of reading and commenting,

you'll notice that there are a couple of other people

whose interests in thingamajigits is very close to yours.

You'll find that you're returning to their work more often,

that they're commenting on your work more often,

that you're connecting.

You don't need to connect with everyone.

Find yourself a cluster of people who are focused on what you're interested in,

a group of people for you to work with,

maybe, even a community that might share ideas

after the course is over.

Finally, and this is especially important to me,

you need to focus.

Even with all the positive connections

and the interesting readings,

in the learning about thingamajigits,

I always find that a little over half-way through an open course,

my mind starts to wander.

Maybe you're not sure what you're trying to do with the course.

If you're not trying to finish the course for credit,

why are you trying to do it?

Maybe you have an idea about something

that you could do with thingamajigits at work,

and decide to post your idea in your blog.

You can draw in your new cluster to help you with your plans,

start a project, maybe a paper, maybe a grant,

and use the rest of the course to finish it.

After ten weeks, you'll know lots more about thingamajigits,

you'll have made some valuable and useful professional connections,

and have a project

that you can apply right back to your work.

You'll have succeeded.

Orient, declare, network, cluster and focus.

MOOCs are open.

That includes being open to different ways of success.

This is my way.

(written and narrated by Dave Cormier
video by Neal Gillis)

(researchers Dave Cormier Alexander McAuley George Siemens Bonnie Stewart)

(Created through funding received by the University of Prince Edward Island through the Social Sciences and Humanities research Council's "Knowledge Synthesis Grants on the Digital Economy")

(2010 Creative Commons Attribution license)